Chapter 16

Naruto, who had transformed into his Shinju form, was radiating a huge amount of chakra.

Naruto quickly jumped towards Orochimaru and swung his claw.

Orochimaru jumped back and escaped the claw, and when he looked at Naruto, he saw that the chakra emanating from him was getting stronger and affecting a large area.

"Damn, I have to escape at once." Orochimaru thought.

Naruto swung his hands towards Orochimaru after gathering the wind element on the tips of his claws.

The wind from the claws advanced and slammed into Orochimaru.

Orochimaru had barely escaped the wind that was coming at him. As he turned head towards him, he saw Naruto with a purple orb growing in his mouth.

"Bijuu-dama? Damn it."

Naruto's bijuu-dama grew bigger for a short while, then roared and threw it out of his mouth.

Bijuu-dama was heading towards Orochimaru rather quickly, smashing everything in its path.

Orochimaru had already started making hand seals to escape, but due to not being able to catch up in time, he had several deep wounds on his body.

Naruto fell to his knees wearily as he emerged from his Shinju form.

"Damn, I've reached my limit. I can only make a tiny bijuu-dama with my current chakra. Heheh* I was able to injure him before he escaped." Naruto thought with a chuckle.

Naruto then got up from the ground and started to follow Sakura in the direction she had fled.He saw Sakura hiding in a tree, after leaving for a while.

"I'm Naruto. What is Sasuke's condition?" Naruto said as he entered.

"Oh! Naruto! I'm trying to bring down Sasuke's fever. Are you okay? I heard a lot of noise as I was leaving." Sakura said.

"I'm fine, the opponent was very strong but I was able to do some damage before he escaped. Frankly, I couldn't have beaten him if he didn't have to run." said Naruto.

"Was he supposed to run? Why is that?" Sakura asked.

"Sigh* His name is Orochimaru. One of the three sannin. But long ago he betrayed the village and fled. He probably took the exam in secret and had to flee when it was revealed. His target was probably Sasuke, and after successfully completing his goal, he wanted to escape."

"We're going to have to stay here for a while. In the meantime, maybe my clones out there will find parchment." Naruto thought.

Team 7 rested until the next day, hiding in the tree.

Three people emerged from the bushes. One of the men was walking with a bandaged face and hunched over.

"Wow Wow wow! Look who we found here." They said while walking.

Naruto came out of the tree and said, "I warn you, if you get any closer, you may die."

"Are you going to kill us? Don't make me laugh! It's obvious that the ground has just been dug, are you going to kill us with such a trap?" The man in the bandage said as he took a few more steps.

But just as he was taking the next step, his foot got caught in a very thin wire and suddenly there was a big explosion where he was.

"I told you. You were lucky, you escaped at the last moment and saved your life. But from now on, you will continue your life without a leg. Unless, of course, you lose your life here." Naruto said.

After fighting with the enemies for a while, Naruto and Sakura felt an evil chakra. When they looked where it had come from, they saw Sasuke, whose body was covered in something like black inkblots.

"Muhahaha! I am feeling! Power! With this strength, I will finally be able to grow stronger and take my revenge!" Sasuke said while laughing madly.

"This chakra! We can't deal with it!" The bandaged man thought.

Later, when Sasuke looked at Sakura, he saw the scars on her body. And he narrowed his eyes at the three in front of him.

After Sasuke disappeared from the eyes of the others, he appeared in front of one of the men. Then Sasuke quickly got behind him and grabbed him by the arms, pressing his chest to the ground. Then, with a grin on his face, he forced the man's arms off his shoulders.

"Ah!" He cried out in pain.

Sasuke let go of the man and turned to the bandaged man and said with a malicious grin, "You're next."

But after he took a few steps, Sakura quickly rushed towards him.

"Sasuke, this is not you! Behave yourself!" Sakura said while hugging Sasuke from behind.

After a short while, the black marks on Sasuke's body slowly gathered back into three commas on his neck again.

"We give up! We will give you our scroll, but in return you will let us go!" The bandaged man said as he took out the parchment.

"Okay, we accept." Sasuke said as he took the scroll.

The bandaged man took his friends who were unconscious on the ground and left.

After spending a few days in the jungle, Team 7 had finally arrived at the central tower.

When they entered the tower, after opening both scrolls, Iruka appeared next to them.

After Iruka told Team 7 that they had passed the second stage and gave a few more lessons about being a ninja, then he left.

At this time, genins who had passed the second stage were listening to the Hokage's speech.

"Now the third phase will begin." Hokage said.

"I am Hayate Gekko. Cough* I will be the one leading this phase. We will hold a pre-selection before the final as there are unexpectedly many people left. Cough* You will enter the rest of the exam alone, not as a team. Does anyone feel uncomfortable or want to leave? Cough*" He asked while coughing once in a while.

"I want to withdraw." Someone with gray hair and glasses said.

"Kabuto Yakushi from Konoha. All right, you can leave." Hayate said after looking at the documents in his hand.

"Now let's start the qualifying matches." Hayate said after Kabuto came out.